Taipei, April 2 (CNA) Taiwan ranked 24th among 138 countries in the latest global survey on ease of trade, rising five notches from its last listing two years ago, according to a report released Tuesday by the World Economic Forum (WEF). Among the Asia-Pacific economies, Taiwan ranked sixth, behind Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Japan and Australia in that order, the WEF Global Enabling Trade Report 2014 showed. In the global rankings of 138 countries, Taiwan outperformed Malaysia (25th), South Korea (30th), China (54th) and Thailand (57th), according to the report. The three top-ranked economies globally were Singapore, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. Taiwan's global ranking this year was a significant improvement from 2012 when it was listed 29th in the biennial WEF Enabling Trade Index. The index, the core of the Global Enabling Trade Report, measures the factors, policies and services that facilitate trade in goods across borders and to destinations. It comprises four sub-indexes -- market access, border administration, transport and communications infrastructure, and business environment. The WEF is a Swiss nonprofit foundation based in Cologny, Geneva. (By Yang Su-min and Evelyn Kao)